From Halifax to Newfoundland by RV and ferry
On June 3rd, Day 6 of the trip, we picked up our motorhome, then took until the night of June 4th to travel just over 400 km to the North Sydney ferry terminal.
Sunrise on the 3rd was officially at 05:31, and it was a glorious start to the day.
But just a few minutes later, foghorns were booming and I couldn’t see across the street!
By 07:30 it had cleared enough to get some photos of the 130-foot schooner Silva, which operates as a local tour boat. She was originally built in 1939 in Sweden as a cargo ship before being converted into a passenger vessel.
We had a 09:30 appointment to get picked up by a shuttle driver to take us to Fraserway RV, and decided to go to Cabin Coffee for a light breakfast to get the day started. It was perfect.
There were two other couples on the shuttle bus, and Fraserway could only process one at a time, taking an hours for each, so it took over 3 hours to get on the road. Our first stop was planned to be at a hearing aid shop to see why mine had quit working, but we couldn’t find them – or rather by the time I see spot it, it was in a place that was very difficult to get to, and I gave up.
We had no plans for the day, but a friend suggest that we see the community of Pictou, and that suggestion led us to the Harbour Light Campground, where we got a spot for the night. This is an older facility with lots of full-time residents, but the location is gorgeous, it’s very well maintained, and our hosts were very friendly, even gifting us a couple of muffins to go with our morning coffees 🙂
June 4th, Day 7 of the trip, began with a brief look at Pictou. We parked down along the waterfront and walked far enough to wish that we had more time.
It’s not clear from a brief Google whether this was an actual lighthouse or not. It may be the office of the the Nova Scotia Lighthouse Preservation Society.
There, I’m an honorary Nova Scotian! 🙂
I walked a couple of blocks up to the main street for a look. Yes, I would love to spend a day here…
I really wanted to pay a visit to another former Yukoner, and she suggested that to get to her place we take the very scenic coastal route with a stop at the Cape George Lighthouse.
That lighthouse stop turned out to be exceptionally interesting, as we met the son of the last lighthouse keepers here. Bill and Salome Clark were here from 1951 until 1968, and Tom was 1 year old when they moved there. His father had lost a leg during the war, and his sons would take on whatever duties required climbing the stairs. He loved his life here and was back rekindling some of those memories. Some days things just work out right.
Looking down at our motorhome from the lighthouse.
It looked for a while like this visit wasn’t going to happen, but we made it work. Although we’re Facebook friends, it was so nice to catch up on the details, and the emotions that don’t come across online. We once again heard about a Maritimer’s need to “go home.” Although many people move to where family is, this is different – deeper – and it’s really heartwarming.
I had hoped to visit the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site in Baddeck, but it was about to clse by the time we got near. We’ll get another chance in a month, though. We stopped for a quick Dairy Queen burger at Port Hawkesbury, then the ferry was our focus.
The next two photos show the Seal Island Bridge, the third longest bridge span in the province. It’s quite a view from up there!
The bridge crosses the Great Bras d’Or channel, taking us to Highway 105, which is the Trans-Canada Highway. There we had a fairly lengthy construction delay which the GPS had warned us about.
We got to the Marine Atlantic ferry terminal at North Sydney very early – our sailing time was 11:15pm. Cathy had booked this a year ago so we could get a cabin for the 7-hour crossing to Port aux Basques. There are only 96 cabins for 1,000 passengers.
The terminal is very nice, with seating for hundreds of people, though I had it pretty much to myself.
An outer deck on the second storey gives a panoramic view.
We would sail on the huge MV Blue Puttees. She was launched in 2006 for the Stena Line, and was bought for $100 million and converted by Marine Atlantic, going into service in 2011. She is named after the nickname of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment.
The loading process is quite fascinating to watch, fitting vehicles from motorcycles to B-train semis on. Cathy had booked 27 feet for us, ans the rig we got is 26 feet. At 11:00 pm it was finally our turn to board.
There is no extra space given – you can barely walk between the vehicles.
I was very surprised by the quality of the cabin. It was very comfortable, and I certainly hadn’t expected to be able to have a shower in the morning. I didn’t look around the ship at all – it had been a long day and I wanted to be well rested for our first day in Newfoundland.
A ship-wide wake-up call was broadcast at 06:00. This was the view from our little view, looking right over the bow at the rising sun. It had been an easy crossing, and Cathy and I had both slept very well.
Entering the very tight harbour at Port aux Basques. It would be very scenic from an open deck.
Backed into the dock, this was our view. People were called by vehicle deck to go down and get ready – we were the first called, and within half an hour or so we were on our way.
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